


you've been calling my bluff on all my usual tricks

by HeartonFire



Series: no one has to know what we do [4]
Category: Daredevil (TV), The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Bathroom Sex, Blow Jobs, F/M, Fake Dating, Fake/Pretend Relationship, First Kiss, Kastle Smut Week, KastleNetwork, ksw: thirsty thursday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-20
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-07-14 18:07:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16045781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeartonFire/pseuds/HeartonFire
Summary: Karen is waiting for Frank at Josie’s when a guy tries to hit on her. She wants him to go away, so she implies Frank is her boyfriend. Frank overhears her, and they finally have a conversation they’ve been avoiding for too long.





	you've been calling my bluff on all my usual tricks

**Author's Note:**

> thirsty thursday: fake relationship/dating

“Can I buy you a drink?”

Karen looked up from the email Ellison had sent her about the status of her latest story. She registered absently that this guy wasn’t bad looking, but there was something in his icy blue eyes that made her skin prickle unpleasantly. She just wanted to sit quietly at the bar and wait for Frank to arrive for their monthly check-in so they could pretend to be regular friends, and not just the _I want to make sure you’re still alive_ kind of friends. She really didn’t feel like dealing with some random guy trying to hit on her.

“Come on,” he said, pulling up the stool beside her. “One drink.”

Karen sighed. “No, thanks. I’m waiting for someone.”

“Boyfriend?”

“Yes, actually.” She tried to say it as confidently as she could, but the guy just smirked back at her. If Frank ever knew she had called him her boyfriend, he might never talk to her again. He was so cagey about things like that. So was she, now that she thought about it. She had never even hinted at the idea with Frank. It wasn’t the kind of thing they talked about. It wasn’t the kind of thing she usually let herself think about. It hurt too much when she realized she couldn’t have it.

His smirk widened. “I don’t buy it. What kind of guy lets a girl like you come to a place like this alone to wait for him?”

“This kind of guy,” a low voice rumbled behind them. Karen looked up to see Frank looming over her new neighbor, fury in his dark eyes. He wasn’t looking at her, but she had to make him understand how they were going to get rid of this guy.

She touched his arm gently and he relaxed slightly. She smiled at him, leaned her face up towards his, and he understood what she was trying to say without words. He always did. He pressed his lips against hers, warm and soft and gone too soon. It wasn’t exactly how she pictured their first kiss, not that she had pictured anything, but if she did, it involved significantly more than just a fake kiss to get rid of some random guy.

The guy grumbled something, but gave up the stool. Frank took it and ordered a beer for each of them before he looked at her again.

“Boyfriend, huh?”

Karen stared at the bubbles rising to the surface of her beer. Josie had actually pulled a good one this time.

“You heard that?” He nodded. “It just slipped out,” she mumbled, sneaking a peek at the side of Frank’s face. “I just wanted him to go away.”

Frank nodded. He wasn’t smiling, but he didn’t look upset, exactly. “Got it,” he said quietly. “Just had to make sure.”

“What?” She turned in her stool to face him.

“That’s all that was. Just making sure he left.”

“I didn’t want you to fight him, either, if that’s what you mean.”

Frank chuckled. “Of course. Can’t have that in your favorite bar, can we?”

“I’d prefer if we didn’t,” Karen agreed.

“So that, when I came in, that’s all that was.” He nodded again, like he was confirming it to himself.

“Well,” Karen said, biting her lip to hold back whatever else was going to spill out. She had never been able to keep things from him. If he had a superpower, it was making her tell the truth. The whole truth. Always.

Frank’s eyes locked on hers and she was sure her cheeks were burning. His eyes were tearing through her, sparking something inside her she thought she had shut down a long time ago.

“Well, what?” he said. He shifted closer to her, his knee bumping hers, his jeans rubbing against her skin. “Karen?”

She ducked her head. She couldn’t look at him. “It’s nothing. Forget it.”

“Karen.” There was an edge to his voice that made her shiver. His hand reached out for her, fingers twitching a little, like he wasn’t quite sure if he could touch her. If it was allowed. “Come on. Talk to me.”

Karen sighed. “It’s stupid. Forget it.” There was an edge of pleading in her voice that she couldn’t control.

“Nothing you’ve ever said is stupid. Try me.” Frank had never been one to let things go. She knew that. And she started this anyway.

“Fine.” She took a deep breath. It shook on its way out of her lungs. “I just,” she started, voice catching. “I just thought for a second, what it might be like.”

Frank’s hand closed around hers. She looked over at him, hair falling into her face, and he was still staring at her, like he could see right to the core of her. Right into her soul. He did that sometimes. She had never gotten used to it.

“Yeah?” His voice was rough, low, a little hoarse. His thumb brushed over her knuckles and heat spread over Karen’s body. “And what did you think?”

Karen’s mind flashed with images of holding hands, slow dancing in a fancy dress, waking up in a bed of tangled sheets, tangled limbs. Of kissing in the rain. Of his skin on hers. Things she hadn’t allowed herself to think about in a long time. They had come too far. She couldn’t risk this.

“Karen?” he said again. She didn’t think she could blush any harder, but it was suddenly too hot to bear in the bar. His body heat was too much for her. She couldn’t breathe.

She pushed her stool back and stood, wobbling a little on shaky legs. She could have blamed it on the alcohol, but her beer was still three-quarters full. “I’ll be right back.”

She managed to get to the bathroom and staggered against the sink, sucking in air like she was drowning, fingers clenched around the porcelain so hard her knuckles turned white.

“Karen?” Frank appeared in the doorway, lit from behind in a way that made him fill all the space with his hulking shadow. Karen shrank away from him, curling her body against the wall. Tears were slipping down her cheeks and she didn’t know why.

He closed the space between them in two steps and pulled her into his arms. She shook against his chest and he breathed soothing words into her hair, rubbing circles into her back until she calmed down.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, voice muffled against his chest.

“For what?” He pressed away from her and she saw a distinct wet spot on his shoulder.

Karen waved her hands absently at his shirt, her face, the room around them. Her hands fell back to his chest and she withdrew them carefully, afraid to move too fast. Before she could pull away completely, Frank closed his hands around her wrists. He was gentle with her, he was always gentle with her, but she wasn’t going anywhere.

“Karen,” he said, ducking his head to look her in the eye. “Talk to me.”

“I can’t,” she whispered. “Not about this.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Because it’s not fair to you. You’ve saved my life more than a few times, you’re my friend, and you don’t need me to put this on you.”

“Put what on me?” he said, tugging her a little closer. She shook her head. “Say it.”

“My feelings,” she said, the words sounding stupid over the dull murmur of music and voices from the bar. Her cheeks were burning with embarrassment. This was why she didn’t let herself think about it. It hurt too much. “That’s not fair. That’s not what you need.”

Frank blinked at her, slow and deliberate, like he had just put something together. “You think it’s just you. That’s why you didn’t want to tell me.”

Karen’s eyes narrowed. Her heart started pounding, hope building in her chest. “What?”

“You think I don’t have feelings, too?” He was close to her now, so close she could feel his breath on her face.

“No, I know you do, I know you care about me but…”

“But what, Karen?” He was snarling now, almost angry. His hands tightened on her, pulled her to him. “But I couldn’t feel the same way as you do? I couldn’t want this? Want you?”

Karen couldn’t speak. Her eyes were glued to Frank’s lips. The last time he was this close to her, he was bleeding, dazed from the explosion, running from the authorities. There had been no time. No space for this.

But now, in this dark, dank bathroom that was probably crawling with bacteria, Karen had no excuse. Nothing stopping her from leaning forward, closing the gap, taking what she wanted. What maybe Frank wanted too. It sounded like he did. There was only one way to find out, and she had to find the courage to do it.

So, she did. This wasn’t the chaste kiss he had pressed on her earlier. This was something else entirely.

Frank’s mouth opened to hers instantly, warm and hot and pliable. His tongue dove into her mouth like he wanted to devour her whole. Karen pulled his face to hers, hands on either side of his head, and her teeth grazed his tongue. He bit down on her lower lip, harder than she expected, and Karen moaned, hips rocking forward to meet his.

She pressed him back, against the door, and slid her hands over his shoulders, down to the hem of his shirt. Her fingers grazed his abdomen, and he hissed into her mouth. His fingers bunched the fabric of her skirt, pulling it up towards her hips, giving him space to touch more of her skin, add fuel to the fire building at her core.

“Frank,” she gasped. “Frank. Please.” She fumbled with his belt, let his pants fall to his boots. It was all going so fast, but she never wanted to stop. Not with his hands on her thighs and her fingers grazing the length of him, hard and hot to the touch.

“Karen,” he breathed, head falling back against the door with a soft thud when she squeezed him through his boxer briefs.

She grinned and pushed the fabric down his legs, taking in the full sight of him. He was thick, thicker than she expected, not that she had let herself think about it that much, of course. Just occasionally, when she woke up from a particularly detailed dream. Or when she needed something to give her release and nothing else would do. This was better. She reached for him, sinking to her knees. Her thumb smeared the bead of moisture over the head and he groaned, low in his throat.

“You don’t have to,” he mumbled, but Karen shook her head.

“I want to.” She looked up at him, at all of him, standing tall above her, and she took him in her mouth. He moaned again, fists clenched against the door. Karen pressed forward and took as much as she could, tongue swirling around the head of his cock, taking in every vein, every ridge. She pressed her thighs together, humming at the throbbing tension she felt there. She had never wanted anything so much.

She pulled back, cock falling from her lips with a soft pop, and Frank looked down at her, eyes hooded and pupils blown wide.

“Jesus Christ, Karen.”

She felt like a woman possessed. Every time he said her name, a surge of heat flowed through her and she wanted to push him over the edge. She bobbed up and down on his cock, squeezing the base with one hand and circling the head of his cock with her tongue.

“Karen, Karen, Karen,” he whispered, like a mantra. Or a prayer. His hands fell to her hair, but she could feel him fighting to keep his hips still as she swallowed him down. His eyes were fixed on her the whole time, like he was afraid if he closed them, this would turn out to be a dream.

Humming her pleasure over his skin, she sped up, and his legs clenched. She dug her fingernails into his ass, pulling him deeper into her mouth, and he grunted. He was salty with the sweat of the day, but Karen didn’t care. She loved the control she felt over his shaking body, the way he was giving himself to her completely. Trusting her. She was testing her gag reflex now, but it was worth it to see his face screwed up with pleasure while she worked.

“I’m going to…” he said, through gritted teeth. Karen nodded and he shuddered as he came with a growl. Karen swallowed, and looked up to see Frank staring at her like he had never seen anything like her before.

She stood, straightened her skirt, and kissed his cheek. He turned his head and pressed a kiss to her lips. Softer this time, hand pushing through her hair.

“Karen,” he said, forehead against hers as he smiled. “If I knew all I had to do was scare off some creep, I would have done that a while ago.”

“Oh, yeah?” Karen said.

“Yeah.” He took her hand and tugged her towards the exit. “Come on. Let’s go. All kinds of other things we can do, now I’m your boyfriend and all.”

The jolt of electricity that shot through Karen made her shiver, and she knew she would follow him wherever he led her.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be honest. This one was tough for me. I love the fake dating trope, but finding a way to fit it into Frank and Karen's relationship was tricky. I wrote another fic for this prompt, but it was a college AU and I felt like I wanted smut week to be in the canon universe, so unless people really want to see it, that one won't be up today.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading! I'm glad you guys are enjoying these. Kudos and comments are, as always, much appreciated. :)


End file.
